Ryuji Taste-Tests Eight Lawson Products Supervised by Kimagure Cook: The "Never Buying Again" Fried Rice and the Bouillabaisse That Won Rave Reviews

The first item opened was the much-discussed "Fragrant Crab Miso! Fried Rice with Thick Sauce." It costs 698 yen, or 754 yen including tax. Even before opening it, Ryuji pointed out that the sauce appeared to contain only a little crab meat and was quite thin, and worried, "Is this really okay for 754 yen?" According to the staff, they only managed to get one after going around to several stores.

As soon as it was opened, the crab aroma was so strong that a staff member reacted, "People who don't like it might find this rough." Ryuji said, "I like crab," and dug in, but right after taking a bite exclaimed, "It's not good at all" and "I can't eat this." As Ryuji explained, the fishy smell of the sauce is strong and doesn't harmonize with the fried rice at all. The crab miso has probably been dissolved into it, but it isn't being put to good use. The fried rice on its own is "completely ordinary fried rice," and edible by itself. The sauce, however, was described as "hopelessly mismatched." A staff member also said, "I can find most things tasty, but this might be hard to keep eating," and the conversation moved toward agreeing with the "never buying it again" reputation, which the staff member had "thought was an exaggeration."

The rating was "Z." Ryuji cited the overpowering, unnatural crab miso aroma as the biggest problem. To improve it, the sauce should be loaded with ingredients. Fried rice with sauce that is nothing but sauce is pretty tough to eat, and it would have been better to include plenty of crab meat, or even just imitation crab. Ryuji also speculated that perhaps Kimagure Cook had said, "I want to do a crab fried rice with thick sauce," and that this was forced into existence without enough fine-tuning of the flavor. This was strictly Ryuji's "I feel like" impression. Prefacing it with "I can't lie," Ryuji went as far as to say, "This might be the most inedible of all the convenience store food I've ever had."

Even while the next item was being heated, Ryuji kept thinking about this fried rice. With large-lot products, quality can vary by factory, so perhaps the ones from the Aichi factory are tasty, and Ryuji said they'd like to think they just happened to get a really bad one. Ryuji also said it was unclear why they went with crab miso, and suggested that a sauce made with crab stock might have been better. At the same time, Ryuji added the caveat that some people might find this smell irresistible.

Between tastings, Ryuji also shared thoughts on the project as a whole. In Ryuji's view, Kimagure Cook and convenience stores aren't a great match. Kimagure Cook is tied to fish as an ingredient, and there are limits to what convenience stores can do. On top of that, rolling out eight items at once is "quite an adventure," Ryuji said, adding that some people might buy them for the novelty, but that Ryuji would like the products to compete on taste. Ryuji also added, "That person is really nice, so I don't want to say anything."

The second item was the "Fried Shrimp and Egg Rice Bowl," priced at 797 yen. It comes with three fried shrimp, and Ryuji explained that the egg topping and rice are in separate compartments, so the rice doesn't get soggy. Ryuji also mentioned that Kimagure Cook's restaurant features fried shrimp as well.

A staff member tasted it first and reacted, "This one is way better." Ryuji said the shrimp were a bit small and the batter on the thick side, but the flavor wasn't bad. When asked whether it had any standout feature, though, Ryuji said, "Not really." The impression was of a bowl in which the dashi, egg, and fried shrimp came together nicely. The contrast with the fried rice just before was so stark that a staff member said, "It ends up tasting really good."

The rating was "B." While saying "It's a little pricey" and "If it's this, I'd rather have a katsudon," Ryuji noted that the dashi flavor wasn't bad and it was perfectly edible. Ryuji then surmised that Kimagure Cook has a strong desire to get people eating fish even at convenience stores, at a time when fish consumption is declining, and deliberately created products like this. Ryuji wrapped up by saying they want to acknowledge that effort and feeling.

The third item, which again used crab, was the "Fresh Pasta, Rich Crab Cream," priced at 745 yen. Reacting with "Crab again?!", Ryuji noticed that the noodles looked like linguine. When mixed, it was a little soupy, but there was no crab miso in the aroma, so Ryuji judged it to be fine on that front.

Upon tasting it, the verdict flipped completely, with Ryuji immediately saying, "This is good." Ryuji particularly praised the noodles, describing them as "smooth and chewy" with good bite. Ryuji even said they'd like Lawson to make this fresh pasta its standard. The crab flavor came through clearly, with no fishy smell, working as a genuine "crab flavor." The staff agreed that the noodles were delicious, with comments like "These noodles don't feel chilled" and "I think this will be popular."

The rating was "A+." If anything, Ryuji said, a bit more crab flavor and richness would be nice, and adding grated cheese makes it "really good." Ryuji actually tried it with cheese and recommended that anyone who has some at home add it. Ryuji said that if Lawson can make these noodles, it should build its lineup around pasta, and described it as "a pasta revolution." The judgment was that it's well worth 745 yen. One staff member mentioned not being fond of fish, and said they could enjoy this pasta because it doesn't taste very fishy. Ryuji was satisfied that this explained why the staff member had called it delicious.

The fourth item, eaten without heating, was the "Tuna Yukhoe-Style Salad," at 397 yen and 53 kcal. It contains vegetables such as okra along with seasoned tuna, and the staff were surprised by how vividly red the tuna was.

Ryuji called it "not bad." Ryuji had expected the tuna smell to be stronger, but it is dressed in a gochujang-based sauce, and nothing about the flavor felt off. Ryuji saw it as a small deli item to be eaten in modest portions. The staff's impressions included "It's like a bakudan (roll)," "It would be good wrapped in nori," and "It feels like a bar snack." Some also said that because it's low in calories, it would appeal to people looking for that.

Ryuji rated it "B+." However, Ryuji said that while it's tasty, it's a flavor that has probably existed before. The 397-yen price could stand to be a bit lower, and Ryuji also said that overall it's "around a B." Ryuji added that it would have been nice to have a bit more texture, and that salmon might have been tastier than tuna. Among the ingredients, Ryuji said the crunch of the takuan pickle was good.

The fifth item was "Seafood Umami Is the Key! Bouillabaisse Soup." It costs 419 yen and has 78 kcal. Ryuji said it felt hearty for its calorie count and seemed like it would satisfy a light hunger. It contains cod and clams, and Ryuji said including cod was an interesting choice.

For staff who weren't familiar with bouillabaisse, Ryuji also explained the dish. According to Ryuji, bouillabaisse is a French stew in which seafood is made into a soup, sometimes eaten by dipping bread in it. It corresponds to "zuppa di pesce" in Italian cuisine, and while some versions are salt-based, most are basically tomato-based. When opened, it smelled something like celery, which Ryuji explained is because bouillabaisse includes vegetables like celery.

The reaction at the tasting was the best of the eight items. Ryuji said, "It's very well executed as a soup," and the whole staff agreed in unison that it was "delicious." Comments included that they'd want to eat it on their lunch break, that women would probably love it, and that it would go well with Western-style rice balls. The lack of fishiness was also praised. Ryuji ended up drinking the whole thing partway through and said, "Cook-san, this is it."

The rating was the top grade, "S." Ryuji said that convenience store soups generally don't have a reputation for being very tasty, but this was the best convenience store soup they had ever eaten. The seafood stock comes through well, the ingredients are satisfying, and there's plenty of fish. Ryuji said it "goes a bit beyond the convenience store level," and that at this point "there's some hope now."

The sixth item was the rice ball "Shrimp Mayonnaise on Small Shrimp Rice," eaten without heating. Breaking it open revealed dashi-cooked rice with lots of tiny shrimp, like the akiami shrimp used in okonomiyaki, cooked into it, with shrimp mayo inside as well. According to Ryuji, the shrimp presence is overwhelmingly strong.

While acknowledging it was tasty, Ryuji questioned, "Do you really need this much shrimp?" Either the shrimp rice or the shrimp mayo alone would be enough, and it might have been better to just sell it as an ordinary shrimp rice ball. As an improvement, Ryuji suggested that seasoning the shrimp batter a bit more would make it like tenmusu and seem tastier. A staff member said, "I think more people would say it's tasty."

The rating was "B+." Ryuji said the shrimp and the mayo should each assert themselves more clearly. Some people will probably love it, but it's for serious shrimp lovers. Ryuji also noted that it costs over 300 yen and said it could have offered a little something more.

The seventh item was the hand-rolled sushi "Tuna Negitoro," priced at 289 yen. Ryuji opened it joking, "It's a straightforward one. If this isn't good, then nothing is." Ryuji first praised how the filling was packed all the way to the ends, and there was wasabi inside too.

The verdict after tasting: "This is good." The vinegared rice was very tasty, and with no odd twists in the filling, Ryuji called it "a perfectly delicious negitoro roll." A staff member described it as "tasting like a popular roll at a conveyor-belt sushi place."

The rating was "A+." Ryuji's view is that its flavor and portion live up to the 289-yen price, and hardly anyone who buys it would say it isn't tasty. Ryuji also said, "This is very Cook-san, and it's really good."

Last was the dessert, the "Blue Whipped Cream Fruit Sandwich." Ryuji guessed it was made blue to evoke the ocean, but tilted their head, saying, "Didn't really need to release this one, did they?" Inside are kiwi and orange, a custard-like cream, and blue whipped cream.

The taste wasn't bad—"I haven't had a fruit sandwich in a while, but it's good"—but it's "the kind of thing you'd normally find at a convenience store," so there's little need for it to be Kimagure Cook's. A staff member agreed, saying, "It's nothing more, nothing less." The rating was "B," with Ryuji saying they had simply made an ordinary fruit sandwich blue to make it Kimagure Cook-like. The assessment was that people who like fruit sandwiches would probably find it tasty.

Finally, looking back on everything, Ryuji recommended the bouillabaisse and the crab cream pasta, and said the negitoro is also worth eating. As for the fried rice, it was the kind of product that made Ryuji wonder "how did this get approved," and Ryuji reiterated that, just as the buzz said, they would never buy it again either. On the other hand, the pasta was smooth and delicious, and the bouillabaisse made Ryuji think, "Convenience store soup has come this far," so Ryuji said they'd like people to properly give credit for those.

Ryuji considers everything other than the fried rice to be at least edible or better than average. That made the drop-off with the fried rice all the bigger, and Ryuji closed the review with the words, "Please never release it again" and "Only buy it if you want to see hell." Since the products had only just been released, Ryuji asked viewers to share their own impressions in the comments after trying them, and wrapped up the taste test.